Expanded Allegan County jail opens up new possibilities for sheriff’s office

Thursday

Feb 27, 2014 at 7:00 AM

By Jim.Hayden@hollandsentinel.com(616) 546-4274

Allegan County Sheriff Blaine Koops stood in a cavernous conference room in the front of the new Allegan County Sheriff’s Office and Corrections Center.The room can hold 80 people. At the old jail, the sheriff’s conference room could hold eight — maybe 12 if officers didn’t sit down.“This isn’t your father’s sheriff’s office,” he said, kicking off a series of tours of the $20 million facility, 640 River St. in Allegan, that is nearing completion. Neighbors, county and city officials were some of the first to see the inside of the center that will be operational later this year.HistoryThe county’s current jail in downtown Allegan, 112 Walnut St., was built in 1961 to house 62 inmates. After several renovations, it can hold 173 inmates and has frequently been overcrowded and unsafe for inmates and deputies.After years of debate, the Allegan County Board of Commissioners decided in September 2007 to build a jail and sheriff’s facility at Dumont Lake in Allegan Township for $25 million. Several board members disagreed, saying the jail and sheriff’s department should remain downtown.In 2008, Haworth announced it was closing its Allegan plant that employed 180 people and the 22-acre site became a perfect compromise. It is in the city limits and came with municipal sewer, water and electrical hookups, something the Dumont Lake proposal did not.In what county commissioners then called an almost unprecedented agreement on the issue, they OK’d the purchase in December 2009.A groundbreaking ceremony on March 8, 2012, marked the beginning of construction at the facility.In 2010, Allegan County voters twice turned down a millage request to pay for the jail. The project is being paid for out of county funds.EfficiencyThe new facility will be the home for the sheriff’s office as well as the jail. More space means more room for training, more interview rooms for detectives who will have a “soft” interview room for handling people with special needs and children, and six professional areas to interview and interrogate incarcerated subjects. All the rooms have audio and video recording, said Capt. Frank Baker.All evidence will be stored at the new site. Now, evidence is at three different locations throughout the county. A large evidence intake room in the new facility will allow investigators to work on things as basic as fingerprints by having the proper ventilation to use certain chemicals to find the markings on evidence.All sheriff’s equipment will be stored in the former factory, including marine units.“Efficiency will make a difference in how we do business,” Baker said as he led a media tour of the grounds on Tuesday.Bigger, safer indoor car ports for inmate transfers and a larger booking area with individual detox cells will make the jail safer for deputies and inmates. The sheriff’s office now uses one “drunk tank” for all inmates and only divide them by gender. Two full-body scanners will allow deputies to search prisoners more effectively.And deputies in the central control center can manage the more than 200 doors in the jail and monitor the more than 200 cameras.The cells are prefabricated pods for one, two or more people. The entire site holds 325 inmates. If the jail needs to expand, more pods could be added in the unused space to double the number of inmates.The River Avenue building has medical cells and exam rooms that are not available in the Walnut Street building.No date has been set for when the new facility will start housing inmates and the sheriff’s office. Staff training is continuing.“We’ll take our time and do it right,” Baker said.The fate of the old jail on Walnut Street has not been determined, but the county has said it wants to tear down the building. In November, representatives from the consulting and architecture firm RQAW, of Indianapolis, led the first information-gathering session on the future of Courthouse Square — the buildings that include the Allegan County circuit and district courts, clerk and treasurer offices, sheriff’s department and the jail.Many at that session want the old jail to become green space.— Follow Jim Hayden on Twitter@SentinelJim.